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I remember showing up to a client's closet appointment. He’d gotten some new clothes on a shopping trip while he was out of town. He has a favorite designer and he came upon a sale he couldn't walk away from. I supported his indulgence 100%!
But he needed us. He needed Erin and me to go through his latest buys and put them into outfits he could wear next week. "Next week" wasn't so much his criteria as it was mine. I always like leaving my client's home knowing that he or she would be set for the next few weeks for whatever events or lifestyle activities were coming up.
I did a check-in at the beginning of the appointment just to be sure I understood his wants and wishes for our afternoon session together. He started telling me about some of the people he sees at events he ...

The coolest thing happened today. One of my clients was expecting her first grandchild on December 26th. This morning I texted her. "Are you a grandparent yet?" I said.
My phone dinged a few minutes later and there was a picture of the cutest baby wearing a knitted red hat with a white pom pom at the tip. Attached at the top was a little banner that said, "My First Christmas." Turns out she arrived early, December 20th, and enjoyed her first Christmas with her extended family. We had just visited that client a week before the birth. We were helping her by putting together outfits for all the holiday parties and festivities.
This client came to me when her youngest daughter went off to college. She wanted to figure out who she was now that she wasn't 100% focused on family. ...

As this year comes to a close, I'm enjoying reflecting on the business of my business. The beautiful thing about not giving up when times are tough is that you get to really shape your business to suit you. I just heard from a coaching client of mine. She took some time off to get in touch with the direction she wants to be going in. The result of that timeout? "I'm building my business on my own terms. I'm not listening to how everyone else runs businesses. Mine is unique."
That's so so true! I bet if we could line our businesses up there would be no two alike. We're in a creative field and we're allowed to handle our business in creative ways!
So I sat down with paper and pencil and looked at the early years in my business and compared them to where I am now. A lot has ...

Some of the best things I learn about come from the Monthly Marketing Bundle members on our strategy calls each month. You might find these resources perfect for a project or problem you're working on.
Make your professional pieces look more professional
Grammarly.com is a website that helps you with your spelling and grammar. I just went to it this week when I was writing a blog post. I remembered Tracy mentioning it in a past MMB strategy call and what a difference it made for her. She used it to help her make her documents look polished and professional. Once you download it, help is on the way!
Here's an example of how it works.
You can see that when I started writing this blog post, Grammarly alarmed me that something was amiss about the way I'd used ...

I have a client who has a closet full of clothes (sound familiar?) and although she desires a cleared out closet, she hardly knows where to begin. I hardly know where to begin!
We've worked together for years and recently she made a commitment to try and clean out her closet...with our help of course. But the last time we were in her closet I suggested a slight detour first. I said, "Linda, I'd like to meet you at J.Jill and help you shop for a few items that will work for your current lifestyle. I feel confident that we can find the look you're wanting and once we do, it'll be so much easier to know what to let go of."
She was intrigued but not as confident as I was.
"We'll meet you there and shop for an hour or hour and a half," I said. She agreed and got out her ...

I have a file called "Consultant Concerns" where I keep questions or concerns students or coaching clients have had. This week I pulled five of these questions out and decided to share them with you. Hopefully they may help with situations you may have had.
1. Do you recommend someone at a department store for shopping services if you don't have time to see the person?
BK: Only if I have decided this is not a client I want to work with in the future. If we've made a great connection but our timing is off I'll give her my next available time and ask if she can wait. Usually she says yes. Or in some cases I've asked her to not take tags off the clothes she shops for before I see her. That way she still has time to return them if they aren't right.
2. What do you do when ...

I was in a public place of business once and the company had framed on the wall their Conditions of Satisfaction when it came to their customers. I decided to fool around with that idea and think about what would need to be in place in order to create desired outcomes in my business. When we work for ourselves, we're not guided or watched by superiors so we have to do the job of guiding ourselves and figuring out what we need to feel good about our professional lives.
I recently came across my original notes on this idea and decided to share them with you. After I read them I realized it was no coincidence that I'd come across that piece of paper as I need these reminders myself!
BK's Conditions of Satisfaction (notes)
When I'm done with a task, I declare myself satisfied ...

I'm forever fascinating about ways to give clients VIP treatment from the very first contact. I like to observe how others give customer service. You can really see it in the restaurant business, can't you? Great service always stands out in my mind. And as a paying customer, it's that kind of service I want to be around. Have you observed others doing great things with customers? Have you adopted some of those ideas into your own business?
One way to really sharpen your customer service skills is to be a client yourself to someone in the service industry. By observing how someone treats you as a client, you can take some pointers from them on the things that work. When things don't work out well, you can also learn from that. I've learned some of my best customer service ...